FIG. 5 shows the construction of an optical connector 100 of prior art. The optical connector 100 comprises an optical element 130 and a housing 110, in which the optical element 130 is mounted. The housing 110 includes an optical fiber receptacle 112, into which a ferrule (i.e., a member which accommodates and retains an end portion of an optical fiber 71) 70 can be fitted.
The optical element 130, which has, for example, a cylindrical form, is horizontally fitted into the housing 110. The optical element 130 includes a light-capturing or light-emitting surface (hereinafter referred to as the "light-capturing/emitting surface") 131 on the front face thereof and electrical leads (electrodes) 133 on the rear face, which leads bend downward and extend beyond the lower face of the housing 110.
This optical connector 100 is mounted on a circuit board 60, for example, by inserting the leads 133 into through-holes 61 which are provided on the circuit board 60, and then by soldering the ends of the leads which extrude to the other side of the circuit board 60, to respective electrical pathways that are provided on the circuit board. With this optical connector 100, when the ferrule 70 is fitted into the optical fiber receptacle 112, the end face of the optical fiber 71 is brought into the position where it faces the light-capturing/emitting surface 131 of the optical element 130. As a result, the connection of the optical fiber 71 to the circuit board 60 is established.
Many devices and instruments which incorporate this type of optical connector are now undergoing miniaturization, so it is necessary for the optical connector 100 to be also miniaturized.
However, the miniaturization of the optical connector 100 encounters some problems. In this type of optical connector 100, the leads 133 are bent downward so that the ends thereof extend downward beyond the housing 110. For miniaturization, in order to shorten the lengths of the leads 133 in the horizontal direction, the bending of the leads must be more acute than the present design. This means that the leads 133 must be bent in an unreasonably small curvature. This reduced bending radius of curvature may damage some members in the optical element 130, which are located next to or near the leads. In addition, even if the leads 133 were bendable in such a manner, it will be difficult to precisely position the ends of the leads 133 for the insertion into the through-holes 61 of the circuit board 60.